The Best Blinds For Rental Property From A Self-Managing Landlord

Depending on where you’re located, it may not be a landlord’s responsibility to provide window coverings for rental property.

However, I think it’s a good idea to provide window treatments even if it’s not necessary or doesn’t increase rent – specifically blinds.

Blinds provide a nice layer of privacy that helps protect the rental property when it’s vacant and gives any new tenants a level of privacy while they unpack and get settled in.

And, if you’re a landlord that self-manages your rental property – by installing these window treatments yourself (or hiring it out), you make sure they’re installed correctly. Damage to the window jamb is more difficult to repair cleanly than holes in the wall from tenants hanging up curtains (if you have drywall).

I remember renting a house as a tenant that didn’t come with any window treatment – it took me a couple of days to figure out what kind of window coverings to buy, the dimensions of the window treatment, purchasing the blinds, and then installing them.

That made moving into the property more time-consuming because we didn’t want all of our belongings inside the rental property while everybody could easily see inside.

So, in this post – I’m going to help landlords figure out what blinds they should install in their rental property.

Evaluate your rental property

The first thing to do in your rental properties, before purchasing anything, is to evaluate each rental home and figure out what you need.

In my opinion, this process is easy and boring.

You only need to answer a few questions:

What kind of tenants are you attracting?

The answer to this question should be straightforward when you think about your situation.

Are your tenants high-income and expect a very high-quality property? If so, you may need to dive into custom window treatments in order to keep your rental home competitive in the market.

Are your tenants working-class individuals, that just want a solid property to call home after leaving work? If so, you probably want decent-quality blinds that are easy/simple to replace if they’re broken.

Are your tenants low-income or dependent on government assistance and spend a lot of time at home? If so, you’re probably going to choose the most cost-effective blinds that are easy to replace.

What type of windows are you covering?

Write down the types of windows you’re planning on covering with blinds and their corresponding dimensions.

This information will be extremely useful when you go window blind shopping.

How many windows are you covering with blinds?

The next thing to figure out is how many windows you’re purchasing window coverings for.

Similar to listing the types of windows you’re covering, knowing how many windows you need to purchase blinds for will be necessary when you go window blind shopping.

Are the windows in high-traffic areas?

In this situation, a “high-traffic” area can be defined as one that will be used often during the tenant’s lease.

For each window that you’ve written down from the steps above, write down if the window is in a high-traffic area. This information will influence the type of window blinds you purchase.

Choosing the best blinds for your rental property

The “best” blinds for your rental home will likely change over time after gaining experience with what tenants use and/or break in your property.

However, to get started, here are the blinds I recommend for each specific window situation:

Low-traffic window blinds

A low-traffic (barely used) window is a window that you could consider purchasing higher quality blinds for since they wouldn’t get much use (less likely to break).

My recommended blind for this window is faux wood blinds.

Faux wood blinds are durable and can elevate a space. They aren’t the cheapest option but, for a low-traffic area, shouldn’t get used much and thus be replaced less frequently.

One downside to keep in mind is that these blinds tend to collect dust.

High-traffic window blinds

A high-traffic window is a window that I’d recommend purchasing blinds that are inexpensive and simple/easy to replace.

Blinds in these areas will get broken relatively often, especially if your tenants have kids or pets.

My recommended blind for this window is vinyl mini blinds.

Vinyl mini blinds are one of the most simple and inexpensive blinds you can purchase. They’re easy to operate and filter light well. However, they’re much easier to damage than faux wood blinds.

You may have to do the math but, in my area, I can replace vinyl mini blinds 3-4 times before I reach the cost of faux wood blinds.

Common windows

“Common windows”, in this context, refers to typical-sized single-hung, double-hung, casement, or awning-style windows.

With common windows, I recommend 1″-2″ horizontal blinds.

These can be faux wood blinds or mini blinds (refer to the section above about window traffic) – but I think these windows look best when the blinds are horizontal.

Sliding glass doors

Sliding glass doors are great because they typically let a lot of light inside, as well as more airflow.

The downside of this is that they’re usually too big for standard horizontal blinds, and horizontal blinds could affect the function of sliding doors.

My recommended blind for sliding doors is vertical blinds.

Vertical blinds provide similar light filtering ability as horizontal blinds but also allow you to move the blinds horizontally to match the function of your sliding glass door.

French Doors

French doors are great because, similarly to sliding glass doors, they let in plenty of light. However, due to having two doors that open, they let in even more airflow than sliding glass doors.

Another difference between french doors and sliding glass doors when it comes to adding window treatments is that french doors are 2 separate doors versus one sliding unit.

Because of that difference, I recommend mini blinds, faux wood blinds, or even some type of shades (roman shades, roller shades, pleated shades, etc..) if your rental property is higher end.

Keep in mind that a french door is most likely in a high-traffic area. So whatever blinds you use will likely need to be replaced relatively often.

Large windows

Large windows, in this context, can be defined as windows that are much bigger than common dimensions.

These windows are usually custom ordered and will probably need custom window treatments, depending on the size.

If this window is small enough for horizontal blinds – go that route. However, if the window is bigger or has an awkward shape, you may need to choose different window treatments such as a curtain.